Month: June 2012

THE Kiawah Resort Associates group remains “fully committed” to its exclusive five-star Doonbeg golf course resort, despite fears this week that legal action in America could spark a fire-sale of its assets.

The golf course, which was designed by two-time British Open winner Greg Norman and officially opened in 2002, is part of an overall development built at a cost of nearly € 30 million by the South Carolinabased Kiawah Resort Associates group.

However, the company’s minority shareholders have filed a lawsuit claiming that Charles ‘Buddy’ Darby – the majority owner of the firm – has been “siphoning off” and “misappropriating” income and assets for the benefit of himself and his family.

The minority owners – who include members of Mr Darby’s extended family – want a Carolina court to order that both Doonbeg and a resort on the paradise Caribbean island of St Kitts be sold off and the proceeds distributed amongst all the beneficial owners.

In a lengthy complaint just filed in a Charleston court, minority owners of Kiawah Resort Associates have made a number of allegations.

They claim Mr Darby has engaged in a “systematic, unremitting course of conduct” over a number of years to exclude minority partners from the business and affairs of the Kiawah operation.

They say they’ve been denied access to corporate information and that Mr Darby has attempted to “freeze them out”.

Mr Darby, court documents say, secured majority control of the Kiawah business in 1997. The minority partners allege that he has effectively operated the business as his own.

“There is no board of directors to oversee Buddy Darby’s total dominion” of the Kiawah business, they’ve told the court. They say he has also “unilaterally directed profits” from Kiawah businesses to himself and other businesses that have links to his own immediate family.

“Personally, I am disappointed that this action has been taken,” said Mr Darby.

“I would have hoped that the matters could have been resolved out of court and that is still my wish.”

Mr Darby said that the Kiawah group remains “fully committed” to Doonbeg and its “continuing success now and in the future”.

The Kiwah group has accumulated losses of € 48 million, but the company has a target of turning a profit at the Doonbeg resort by 2014.

In 2008, the group valued the Doonbeg links at € 17 million and buildings at € 14 million. Th e e a rly o u t lo o k fo r n e xt we e k is fo r m o re c lo u d s, o c c a sio n a l ra in a n d n o re a l su n n y d a ys ye t .

ALMOST 100 acres of council land adjacent to Ballyalla Lake, opposite Drumcliffe graveyard, is to go under the hammer on Friday.

The sale of the old dog pound site is dependent on numerous factors, not least the wishes of the council members once the deal is done.

Senior Executive Officer, Corporate Services Michael McNamara told last night’s meeting of Clare County Council that the land may not even sell if it does not reach the sale reserve. Council members can also veto the sale going through, as it must return to them for verification once the deal is done.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) warned that he and his Ennis colleagues would campaign to prevent the sale if a periphery around the lake was not retained in public ownership.

“I am very against the sale of any land adjoining any lake. You will not have my support or Ennis Town Council colleagues’ support to sell it and we will vigorously canvas the councillors here to reject it,” he said.

“I think it is clear that the protection of the area around the lake is important to note or it won’t be supported when it comes back here (council chamber),” said Mayor of Clare, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF).

Previously in the meeting, Mr McNamara confirmed that some of the land was adjacent to the lake. He added that the council was retaining a substantial amount of land at the opposite side of the lake.

The discussion on the sale of the land followed a joint motion pro- posed by councillors Johnny Flynn (FG), Tony Mulqueen (FG) and Pat Daly (FF) who suggested that any proceeds from the sale of the 96 acres at Drumcliffe would be ringfensed for the general Ennis area for the provision of sport and community facilities.

County Manager Tom Coughlan told the members that any money received would have to be put into the general council fund and used for the entire county.

He said the councillors had prioritised the building of sports facilities in Killaloe and Kilrush.

“You prioritised that as Ennis has Lee Road, that East and West Clare need similar.”

Clare County Council has already allocated € 300,000 to Ennis Town Council for the all weather pitch at Lee’s Road.

“Proceeds from sales over recent years have been used to fund the provision of assets such as the area depots at Shannon, Kirush, Bodyke and also at the area offices provided at Scrariff and Ennistymon,” said Mr McNamara.

CONSTRUCTION work on the controversial Clare section of the Limerick Northern Distributor Road will not begin until 2025 at the earliest, according to Clare County Council’s leading Engineer.

Senior Council engineer, Tom Tiernan said yesterday that the road – which has prompted local protests in the Parteen, Ardnacrusha and Clonlara areas – was now an aspirational project and something that will affect the “next generation” of residents in the south east Clare area.

“This is not a road for the present. If this was on the table four or five years ago, it may well have materialised very quickly. There was a different definition of ‘future’. We would have to be very optimistic to see that this road would be accommodating traffic in 10 years. That would be extremely optimistic,” said Mr Tiernan.

“We have to hope that this economic situation will turn around but it seems very clear that this [road] will not be done for the foreseeable future. But we have to plan for it. If we don’t plan for it, then other areas of the country will be ahead of us when things do turn around.

“This is a very substantial scheme, which should have positive spin-offs for the region as well. But really we are talking about the next generation and not the current one.”

Local Cllr Cathal Crowe (FF) also raised concern over the pubic consultation process for the development, saying that the ESB were allowed to consult on the project on an ongoing basis while the public were only allowed two “insensitive” chances to have their opinion heard.

“The playing pitch was unequal at times. Talks with the ESB were ongoing where as Joe Soap in the public was given just two chances to have their say, and they were very insensitive times where they had to go into a hotel in front of all of their neighbours to say their piece,” said Cllr Crowe.

According to Tom Tiernan, the ESB were spoken to on an ongoing basis because of the “serious consequence” that the road could have for their operations.

“People are upset, it is impossible to develop a road scheme of this nature without upsetting some people,” he said.

“We have to consult with people, we have to be as fair as possible in how we deal with people. Once a route is selected, once funding begins to materialised for the purchase of property, we have to realise that people are being disenfranchised by this scheme.”

THE fact that the Roche Ireland plant in Clarecastle has an incinerator is being held up as the trump card that can save the company from being closed as part of a global restructuring plan being put in place by the company’s cor porate headquar ters in Basel in Switzerland.

Permission in principal for an incinerator at the Clarecastle operation was granted by Clare County Council in early 1996, but was later the subject of the first ever Envi ronmental Protection Agency Oral Hearing before the Roche was granted a licence for the incineration facility in December of that year.

Sixteen years on and with the incineration facility firmly in place, there are hopes among the staff that this could be “the deciding factor” in persuading the Roche Group to retain its Clarecastle operation.

Despite controversies such as incineration and the odour problem that dogged the Clarecastle area in the early years of the plant, Syntex/ Roche’s reputation as a flagship employer in the county has been cemented over many years.

This was flagged from its earliest days of production in 1977, when it employed 180 people and had a wage bill of £750, 000, while within four years numbers employed at the plant had grown to nearly 300 as the company embarked on a £7. 5m investment.

Thanks to the production of the naproxen drug, Syntex had an initial turnover of £10m, a figure that trebled in the early ’80s as employment soared and an expansion of facilities allowed for a four-cycle seven-day week operation.

In 1994 the Clarecastle company became part of the Pharmaceutical Division of the Roche Group as it acquired the Syntex Cor poration in a $5.3bn worldwide takeover that resulted in it being re-branded as Roche Ireland from 1996.

Employees at the Clarecastle plant come from a wide range of disciplines and include chemists, engineers, manufacturing and laboratory technicians, craft-workers, accountants and IT specialists.

There are four automated manufacturing plants on site with room for further expansion, with the company priding itself of being “a manufacturing centre of excellence for the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients destined for conversion to medicines in dosage form at other Roche facilities throughout the world”.

THE move to locate a high technology pharmacuetical plant in Clarecastle was announced in November 1973 – the first big jobs announcement for the county after Ireland’s accession to the European Economic Community.

Syntex was an international company founded in Mexico in 1944, before developing subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Spain, England and America and prior to establishing in Clarecastle had a worldwide workforce of 5,000.

The announcement of the development of Syntex’s first production facility in Europe on a 77-acre site in Clarecastle, with the promise of 200 jobs that would grow to 500 represented a huge injection into the local economy.

The founding managing director, Dr John T Day said “the reason Syntex selected Ireland was because of a very attractive incentive package available to manufacturing companies.

“We have been very impressed by the co-operation we have received from the IDA and SFADCO, the Clare County Development team and Clare county officials.

“I would like to thank the local people for the very efficient and progressive way in which they have approached the establishment of a high technology industry in County Clare,” he added in announcing this huge jobs boost to the county.

“We are satisfied that Syntex are seriously concerned about the environment and that they have a keen sense of responsibility to the community,” said then Clare County Manager, Joe Boland.

“They have supported many educational and social programmes, not only in America, but also in other countries in which they have factories. Clare and Ireland are fortunate in getting a company of the stature and quality of Syntex to establish here,” he added.

Site preparation started in May, 1974 and ‘sod turning’ for the manufacturing plant took place in June 1974, which was performed by Minister for the Gaeltacht, Tom O’Donnell (FG), with the same shovel used by Charles Stewart Parnell to turn the sod for the start of the West Clare Railway in 1886.

The plant was built by Michael Lynch and Company, with the total project costing £11.8m, nearly £6m more than had been forecast, with production of Naproxen – a drug used in the treatment of arthritis – commencing in February 1977 and official opening of the plant by the Minister for Industry and Commerce, Gene Fitzgerald (FF) on July 11, 1977.

AN ERSI report published yesterday predicted that the jobless rate is to rise to 14.9 per cent this year before settling at around 14.7 per cent.

One organisation that is not letting such predictions dampen its spirits, however, is EmployAbility Clare, formerly Clare Supported Employment Service, which is defying the odds by keeping its job-seeking success at an all-time high.

It is good news for the local people with an illness, injury or disability who continue to take up employment with the support of the service.

“We are delighted to report that our placement figures continue to remain steady despite the current climate,” said Alice O’Carroll, team leader with the service.

“I think local businesses have gained a confidence in our uncompromising commitment to match them with the right person to meet their needs over the last decade.”

The service, which is funded by the Department of Social Protection, is also committed to meeting the recruitment needs of local employers.

In some cases, businesses may be eligible to avail of a subsidy of € 5.30 per hour to assist them with wage costs when they employ a candidate through the service. Her e, Cla ir e Ga lla gher t a lks t o fou r ind ividu a ls who have ga ined employment – a nd a con fidence b oost – wit h t he help of Cla r e Sup p or t ed Employment Ser vice.

LISDOONVARNA woman Birgitta Hedin-Curtin has been appointed as Ireland’s leading authority on organic fish.

Birgitta, who operates the Burren Smokehouse in Lisdoonvarna along with her husband Peter Curtin, was appointed by the Junior Minister at the Department of Agriculture, Shane McEntee (FG), to the newly formed Organic Focus organisation.

The organisation aims to coordinate business and government policy in the organic sector and Birgitta will have a key role in the way that the organic fish sector develops over the next few years.

According to the Burren Smokehouse funder, organic fish could become a major growth area in Clare in the years to come and could generate a large number of jobs.

“It is essential that you have a thriving organic sector, it showcases the entire food sector to foreign markets. The organic sector is a big focus for this and really does help to promote Irish foods abroad generally,” she said.

“Organic food is very important for County Clare but also for all of Ireland. The board is mainly made up of representatives from the business sector of the organic industry and the work will focus on helping to shape Government policy.

“Irish salmon production would not exist today if it wasn’t for the organic sector in the mid-1990s which kept it going. The weather conditions are difficult for salmon on the west coast but that gives us a higher class of salmon which means that we can charge a premium.

“Irish organic salmon has become a leader in the world market. It is being sought after worldwide at the moment. This can be built on. We have problems at the moment with licensing issues and that is holding things back at the moment but there are plans from the Department of Agriculture to address that.

“It needs to be addressed if there is to be a growth in the market. There is room for widening the production in the future and that can only be a good thing for the industry.”

DESPITE flooding in many parts of the county, 2012 will go down as a the record-breaking year for sunshine in County Clare.

Friday, May 25, and Saturday, May 26, have been recognised as possibly the finest ever 48 hours seen in the county during the month of May.

According to new data released by Met Éireann, the highest temperature recorded anywhere in Ireland last month was recorded at Met Éireann Shannon Airport station which recorded a high 27.8 degree Celsius on May 25. This was the highest May temperature recorded at the Shannon Airport station since it was opened in 1938.

The longest day of sunshine was also recorded at Shannon Airport on May 26 when a total of 15.6 hours of sunshine were recorded. This was the joint highest daily sunshine rate to be recorded at Shannon Airport in the station’s history.

For once, the good weather seems to have favoured the west coast over the east with both rain levels and temperatures indicating a much better month on the Atlantic coast. An example of this was the highest average temperature for the month, 12 degrees Celsius, being recorded at Shannon Airport, compared to the lowest average was recorded at Dublin Airport where the mean was just 9.6 degrees.

The rain also seems to have stayed clear of the Banner County last month with the Shannon Airport station recording the lowest months rain total in Ireland at just 38.8mm. This amounts to less than 60 per cent of the normal average rainfall recorded at Shannon Airport in the month of May. This amounts to just more than half of the rain that fell at Met Éireann’s Newport station where 74.9mm were recorded.

Nationally, rainfall was below average nearly everywhere, with the exception of most stations along the East coast which reported above average rainfall. These stations all attributed at least a quarter of their monthly rainfall total to the heavy rainfall on May 1.

DECIDING to go to hospital, even when they are very ill, is a daunting undertaking for Katie and Jordan Drennan.

The brother and sister from the Lahinch Road in Ennis both live with Cystic Fibrosis, and as there is no CF clinic or unit for people over 16 years of age in the mid-west area, the risk of infection and even more ill health is heightened by any trip to the area’s hospitals and clinics.

“You are thrown in with other clinics and there is a high risk of crossinfection there,” said Jordan (20).

Katie (21) believes going to hospital is a risk that has to be carefully weighed up.

“Now you try to avoid going to hospital as much as possible for as long as possible because, for me especially, when you get sick you have to try to nip it in the bud, because I would have been on a lot of antibiotics over the years and not everything works.”

Even when she travels to St Vincent’s Hospital in Dublin for specialised treatment, the risk of cross-infection is even greater as she waits on trolleys for addition.

However, by early 2014, the duo hopes that the new unit will be opened in Limerick, thanks mainly to the hard and unrelentless work of the local group TLC4CF.

Five of the nine beds will be opened to start with, which will provide clean and specialised facilities especially for patients with the condition.

In the meantime, Katie and Jordan are busy with their studies and maintaining their condition as best they can. Every morning of every day of every week, Katie starts by using her nebuliser. She then gets something to eat and returns to physio. This takes at least two hours “on a good healthy day”. Repeat it all again every evening. During the college year at University of Limerick, this means an early start for the bubbly blonde, who is studying business.

Jordan has taken a break from studying Computer Games Development in Carlow IT, but intends to return when his lung function has improved. In order to achieve this goal, he works every day in the gym to increase his lung capacity, while using oxygen. He uses oxygen again at night as he sleeps, and has physio and his “nebs” every day also.

“This is like my full-time job,” he laughs.

With this sense of humour, Jordan and Katie have both signed up to be one of the first to be spraytanned as part of the fundraising tanathon in aid of TLC4CF this week.

THE Government decision to snub demands at Clare County Council level for the local authority to be given representation on the any of the three committees charted with shaping Shannon Airport’s future has been branded as “a disgrace”.

At the June monthly meeting of the county council, Mayor of Clare, Pat Hayes (FF) led the charge against transport minister, Leo Varadkar, amid growing calls for a representative from the local authority to be brought onto one of the committees.

“It a disgrace that there is no local authority representation,” said north Clare electoral area representative, Cllr Pat Hayes (FF), while Mayor Hayes said “it was hugely disappointing that there is no one from the council on the steering committee”.

Council criticism came despite the revelation that Minister Varadkar is seeking to meet with Clare County Council chiefs on Shannon Airport, with councillors vowing to crank up the pressure in demanding that the local authority be given a role in Shannon’s future. Meanwhile, both Shannon Development and the Shannon Airport Authority have welcomed the announcement of the task forces and steering committees charged with mapping a new direction for Shannon Airport and the wider Shannon region.

“We are pleased to be part of both Task Force teams,” said Shannon Development chief executive, Dr Vincent Cunnane. “Shannon Airport and the Shannon Complex (which includes the Shannon Free Zone) are major economic drivers for the Shannon region and the wider western region, and Shannon Development is fully committed to engaging with the various groups to chart the future direction that will secure the viability and sustainability of the airport in the years ahead.

“We are particularly pleased that a guiding principal for the overall approach of the Steering Group enshrines the future development of the wider Shannon region,” Dr Cunnane added.

“The announcement of the makeup of the Steering Group and Task Forces is an important step in the Government’s process to create a new ownership structure for Shannon Airport,” said Shannon Airport director, Mary Considine. “We look forward to working with the Steering Group and Task Forces that have been announced today to help shape a new future for the airport and the region in line with Government policy,” she added.